Philips unveils its first wireless mobile clinical assistant to improve patient care at the bedside

The handheld device enables doctors and nurses to wirelessly connect to patient information stored in a hospital's electronic medical records, improving patient care at the bedside. It incorporates a large, high-quality pen-controlled touchscreen, RFID and barcode scanning, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a digital camera.

"Doctors and nurses are under constant pressure to monitor and record information about their patients' physical symptoms. At the same time, they're responsible for ensuring that each patient is as happy and comfortable as possible. Key to this is ensuring they understand what treatment they're undergoing and why, and what the possible outcomes are,"

said Diederik Zeven General Manager Middle East Philips Medical Systems. "With CliniScape, care providers can update a patient's electronic record at their bedside - an approach that's much more efficient than paper-based systems. They can also use the device to show the patient their own medical images or other relevant data."

Available from spring 2008, CliniScape has been designed specifically for the hospital environment. Its ergonomic, lightweight design is medical grade, and includes a long-life battery and a large 10" XGA pen-controlled touchscreen. Its intuitive interface means that healthcare professionals require minimal training whilst providing significant benefits. The device can help to reduce medication errors, positively identify staff and patients, fill out charts, capture vital signs, write up reports and validate blood transfusions as well as closely monitor the healing of wounds.

The Mobile Clinical Assistant category was defined by Intel's Digital Health Group, with direct input from nurses and physicians worldwide. CliniScape can be used to access any hospital information system and also integrates with the latest releases of Philips' medical technology platforms, IntelliVue Clinical Information Portfolio (ICIP) and iSite PACS, and with the integrated digital camera, nurses can take and insert patient pictures directly into the ICIP electronic medical record.

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